Witnesses heard screams as doomed Nepal jet crashed

KATHMANDU (AFP) - The passengers on board a doomed flight that crashed on its way to Mount Everest could be heard screaming inside the cabin but rescuers were unable to get them out as flames engulfed the aircraft.

Witnesses to Friday's crash in Kathmandu which killed 19 people, including 12 foreigners, recounted how they rushed to the scene as the Sita Air plane came down in flames in the Nepalese capital.

"We could hear people inside the aircraft screaming, but we couldn't throw water at the plane to put out the fire because we were scared that the engines were about to explode," said Ms Tulasha Pokharel, one of the first on the scene.

Ms Pokharel, a 26-year-old housewife living near the Manohara River, said she was picking vegetables around daybreak when she looked up and saw an aircraft which looked like it was flying too slowly.